Army of the Reaper
by Blackstaff
Summary: A business trip in Waterdeep for Shadimir turns to chaos, as an undead army of the god Myrkul has been unleashed in the city's graveyard. When this is all over, the hunter will make new friends, as well as a very power and very dangerous enemy... read an
1. The Street Demon and the Red Amored Lady

Hammer 12 1370 DR, Year of the Tankard

The Three Day Wait & The Street Demon 

"I'm sorry sir, but Mirt is quite busy this evening, and can not see anyone else for the rest of the night. Perhaps you should try tomorrow," the beautiful young secretary suggested to the young man with short silver hair, while she was exited the gates in front of Mirt the Moneylender's place of residence.

Wearing his finely made elven chain armor over his traveler's clothes, Shadimir Deachron followed Mirt's secretary for just a moment as she began to walk down the street. "But that's what you been saying for the past three days," he pleaded, looking into the woman's dark eyes," I need to see Mirt for a business deal."

The beautiful secretary flipped back her strawberry blond hair and tipped the glasses she was wearing. "I'm sure whatever you need to see Mirt for is very important, but you have to understand, Mirt the Moneylender is a very busy and a very important man." Shadimir was about to say something, but the woman cheerfully added," They don't call him Mirt the Moneylender just because he gives out a lot of money. I'm sorry, but you'll just have to meet with him tomorrow."

The secretary wrapped her finely sewn blue cape around her shoulders. She let out a girlish giggle, then walked away from the young man.

"You are an expert at fighting the walking undead Shadimir," he muttered softly to himself, as he looked back at the ominous site of Mirt's mansion," but when it comes to business, you're about as useful as a one legged pony in a horse race."

Keeping his green cloak wrapped around him, Shadimir walked down the dark streets of the Castle Ward. For the last three days, he had been staying in the famous city of Waterdeep, in hopes of meeting the one of the city's most cunning businessman, Mirt the Moneylender. The undead hunter planned to by some property from Mirt the Moneylender.

Shortly before leaving Silverymoon, Lady Alustriel, Shadimir's tutor (under unfortunate circumstances) told the undead hunter he would more and likely have to wait a day or two before speaking with Mirt.

Shadimir didn't mind waiting for the first two days during his time in the City of Splendors. When the secretary had told him Mirt was busy, the young man did some shopping in the Trade's Ward, buying some bright colored robes for his daughter Dalla, some books on the kingdom of Cormyr for Stephanie, some broken magical devises for Jepetto, and various jewelry for Deidra and Aliyah. The hunter even went and replaced the old hilt on his magical sword Gabriel, giving the blade a shiny new pommel with black leather gripping wrapped around it. While he stayed in Waterdeep, Shadimir spent his nights at the Inn of the Dripping Dagger located in the Trades Ward.

Like many tourists, Shadimir came into Waterdeep with a lot of money, and as he walked down the street of Waterdeep Way on his way to the Inn of the Dripping Dagger, he kept both hands on the handles of his weapons, incase any thieves decided to surprise him. However, the dark street of Waterdeep Way seemed deserted for the evening.

The temperature in the night air dropped a few degrees, causing Shadimir to wrap his cloak around him a little tighter. His sky blue eyes continued to scan the area in front of him, but he forgot about the cool air and any possible images of thieves walking in front of him, when his ears picked up the sound of soft growling, followed by monster like breathing.

In one swift motion, Shadimir snatched both of his weapons from his belt. His magical light mace in his left hand, and Gabriel in his right hand, the undead hunter turned to see a very muscular demon with a dog like head, two large pincers, and two clawed arms. The demon's large and very sharp fangs dripped with saliva.

Shadimir looked up at the demon, its huge size towering over the hunter's six-foot stature. Its wide violet eyes squinted down at the silver haired human, wondering if he could be lured by temptation of power.

The demon never had a chance of finding out. As it was just about to speak, Shadimir jumped forward, slashing his bastard sword across the demon's hip. Gabriel's holy power surged through the demon like a lighting bolt.

He had heard of glabrezu, demons who lured humans, elves, and other races with promises of power. As Shadimir was ready to follow up his attack with the mace in his left hand, he noticed small flickers of fire forming at the demon's fingertips. The flames shot from the glabrezu's fingers, and Shadimir barely dodged the fire. All that was hit by the magical fire was his arm.

The fire burned through his chain, scorching the hairs off his arm, but it was a minor pain. Before he could survey the damage the demon's burning hands spell had done to him, two large pincers came at his face. Shadimir used Gabriel to parry both pincers, then used his momentum to quickly step left and drive his mace into the demon's unguarded side.

The glabrezu clutched his side, while taking a knee on the ground. The hunter's attack did more damage than he thought, as more holy power shot through the demon, this time causing more pain. The holy enchantment placed in magical weapons was the bane of all evil, and both Gabriel and the hunter's mace were infused with such power.

"I will make your death slow and painful," the demon coughed, slowly regaining its stance. It looked into the hunter's eyes, spitting out small droplets of blood. It wanted to kill this human here and now.

Shadimir merely smirked at the demon's threat. "You could try, but we've only been fighting for a minute, and I already have had you down on a knee," he remarked coldly.

"I'll bring you to both knees!" the demon spat as it charged the hunter. Shadimir was ready to finish the demon with one final attack, but his eyes witnessed something that surprised him. As it came closer, Shadimir noticed another glabrezu, looking exactly like the glabrezu he fighting, only a few feet away from him.

"Its a mirror image spell," he muttered softly, remembering his lessons in magic with Alustriel, remembering he could go through mirror images. He was ready to charge through the fake demon in front of him, but a large pincer connected hard with his jaw.

The force of the demon's pincer sent Shadimir flying to the ground. His mouth slowly bled, but he sprang back up, and charged the demon. Grinning, the glabrezu waiting till the hunter was a few inches away, then vanished before his eyes.

Shadimir sighed, knowing the demon would appear right behind him, and he wasn't disappointed.

With its large pincer poised for the attack, the demon's claws snatched the human in the air, then threw him into the wall of the closest building.

Shadimir didn't have time to react, as he suddenly found himself lifted off of the ground. The next moment, he flew through the air quickly, crashing through the wall of little inn called the Jade Jug. He didn't much of a look as he was buried under scraps of wood, broken dishes, and a very frightened barmaid.

The barmaid climbed out of the rubble, then screamed and ran, as the demon quickly walked closer to the hole in the wall. It grinned wickedly, then fished Shadimir from the pile of scrap, and threw him on the ground outside of the inn.

Shadimir's vision had become a little distorted when the demon picked him up. He saw the demon's huge form, but he saw another medium sized, red colored form come into his view.

"Come here and let me crush you," the red colored form said in a soft womanly voice.

The demon turned and it's violet eyes widened in fear as he saw the woman's greatsword come down on him from above, then go through him between the eyes. It had gotten a good look at the woman and her sword, but when she made her cut, he felt half of his body slowly falling left.

The greatsword ripped through the demon's rough skin, the cut going down the middle. The demon's body split in half, its left side falling down left, while the other stood standing.

His eyesight returning to normal, Shadimir brushed the dirt and small pieces of wood off of him, and saw the half of the dead glabrezu's body still standing, then looked over at the woman who had just saved his life, who was adjusting her red scale mail armor.

She appeared to be a little over five foot, with light brown hair tied in a bun. Shadimir noticed small streaks of grey inside of her hair

She's attractive, Shadimir thought as he watched the woman walk over to him, her brown eyes looking him over. "That appeared to be a nasty fall," she said softly, her hands touching the bottom of his cloak. "Not a scratch on you."

The hunter smiled, looking at both halves of the demon's carcass that now cluttered the street of Waterdeep Way. "What about you," he commented," that was a pretty impressive feat of strength, slicing a demon in half with just one attack."

"Well, its easy if you have a powerful sword with a very sharp edge, and you know how to cut down the middle just right, hitting the vital organs," she responded then added a laugh that sent a shiver down the Shadimir's spine. After she finished her laugh, she held up her heavily gloved arms. "It also helps if you have magical gauntlets to," she said, showing off her thick leather gauntlets that covered her hands. "This is pretty calm for me. If I weren't on my way to work, I probably threw him into the helmet shop across the street."

The woman's comment caused her to laugh once more, making Shadimir nod politely than turn his head away from the sound of her atrocious laughter. He then jumped a little when he felt the woman's hands brush the dirt off of his back.

"Looks like we better get you cleaned up," she said softly, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"That's fine and all," he responded smoothly, as he turned around to face the woman," but I only let strangers clean me up after they give me their name."

"Its Iris," she responded playfully," Iris Fikkleleaf."


	2. Lord's Sanctuary and the Hidden Tomb

The Lord's Sanctuary & The Goddess Plot 

Shadimir and Iris continued to walk down Waterdeep Way, but not before Shadimir drank a potion to heal himself up, before they left to find the place Iris called the Lord's Sanctuary.

Except for the undead hunter, the woman who had just saved his life, and the members of the city's watch who had the unlucky task of cleaning up the demon's body, no one else could be seen walking through the streets in the Castle Ward of Waterdeep.

As they walked, Iris was making light conversation with Shadimir. Besides the laugh that made his spine shiver, Shadimir found Iris to be an interesting woman.

She was a part of the Grey Hands, Waterdeep's elite fighting force. The hunter remembered hearing about the Grey Hands from some passing nobles. They were known to be a last resort, not because they couldn't handle powerful enemies (they could handle the most powerful of foes), but when they were called, their results produced a great deal of collateral damage.

For a moment, Iris stared at him. Shadimir wondered it was because of his silver hair, which used to produce a faint glow before he cut much of it off. Yet, as they passed by a small building, where two young male elves walked outside, both of them having long beautiful silver hair.

Iris laughed after telling a joke Shadimir hadn't paid attention to, which irritated her. She balled up her heavily gloved fist and hit him in the shoulder.

A small sense of pain shot through Shadimir. He stopped walking and looked down at Iris, who wore an innocent grin on her face. "We're here," she said softly, pointing ahead to the building a few feet in front of them.

Though the building was small, it housed two stories. Its outside appeared to be made of thick wood. There was a small window next to the doorway. What caught Shadimir's eye was a small wooden sign in front of the building that had the word **ABANDONED **in big black letters on it.

"Are we suppose to be here?" Shadimir asked, looking over at Iris. Ignoring Shadimir's question, Iris walked over to the sign and spoke the word "Maethiira". The word **ABANDONED** that was painted on the sign slowly faded away, then new letters reappeared on it. They read **WELCOME TO THE LORD'S SANCTUARY**.

After taking a quick bath, and setting his equipment upstairs, Shadimir sat quietly at his table in the corner of the almost empty lobby. Besides himself, and two of the inn's employees, there was no one else present in the lobby. The Lord's Sanctuary wasn't as big as the Inn of the Dripping Dagger, but it was a lot quieter.

There were seven tables scattered through the lobby, a bar opposite of the doorway, and a stairway leading up, to the left of the door. Next to the bar, there was a small doorway leading into another room. A purple curtain acted as the seal to whatever was back there. Before she had gone up the stairs, Iris specifically told Shadimir no one was to go to the back room. .

One of the Sanctuary's employees, a tall handsome dark skinned, bald headed, hazel eyed man wearing leather breeches and a brown shirt with small buttons going down the middle, walked over to Shadimir's table. He had a thick black unibrow, big circles for eyes, and a small pointed nose that resembled a beak, This reminded Shadimir of an owl.

"Hello, I am Theodore Owlrey," the big man said in a slow deep voice," Iris will be out here shortly. She is usually late this time of week."

"She obviously has made a career of saving young men," Shadimir commented, looking up at Theodore, as the man stood over the table.

The bald headed man gave a hearty laugh, which didn't send shivers down the hunter's neck. "Aye, we end up saving some people every once in a while," he said laughing, then he brought his loud voice down and leaned his head towards Shadimir. "The few of us who work in this place are all members of the Grey Hands." Theodore paused for a moment, making sure no one else was looking, then brought his voice to a whisper, and continued," But Iris, she is a very busy woman. She's got three sons attending New Olamns Bard College, she works as a Grey Hand Enforcer during supper time, and then comes here till the wee hours of the morning. She goes through a lot to keep her boys in school, and to keep this open. As you can see, its not what you could say 'very pampered'. Fox and I sometimes wonder how she sleeps at night. To think, she has been doing this for a couple of months now. I tell you, it's not be easy being a single mother with three growing kids."

"Aye, its not," nodded Shadimir, thinking about his daughter back home, and how easy they had it living in Silverymoon. Over the years, Shadimir's mother and father had accumulated a massive amount of wealth during their years of adventuring. The hunter never really had to work during his life, and most of the treasures he had gotten during his travels, filled his coin purse.

"And its gotten worse too," yelled a loud raspy voice from behind the bar.

Shadimir noticed a slender looking man with elvish features wearing a blue linen shirt and cloth pants. The half elf had white blond hair and dark blue eyes.

"Fox, you don't know what you're talking about," Theodore snapped back at the half elf. The bald man sighed as Fox gracefully walked over to Shadimir's table, ignoring Theodore.

"What do you mean, its gotten worse?" Shadimir asked the half elf curiously.

"Well, do you know why they call this the Lord's Sanctuary?" After Shadimir shook his head, Fox continued," You see, sometimes some of the more important folk in Waterdeep, like the Lords of Waterdeep for example, need to hold last minute secret meetings with different guilds, mercenaries, or nobles. They come here and use that back room to hold their meetings. No one outside the lords, guild masters, and noble families know about this place, so it's really hard to generate a steady income. We don't have the most rashiving furnishings..."

Afraid that Fox would continue to ramble on forever about the Sanctuary's problems, Theodore held up his large hand to silence the half elf. He leaned close to Shadimir and whispered," "See, the problem is, the owner of the Lords Sanctuary, a greedy man by the name of Clover Silvercloak fled the city about three months ago. Since he hasn't been here, there's no one to pay the rent off of this place. Iris, Fox, and myself try to put part of our Grey Hand Enforcer salaries together, but its just not enough, and since we really can't pay off the rent of this place, some nobles or guilds could buy it off of Mirt."

"Yep, I've already heard House Thann has placed an offer on this place," Fox interjected," probably Danilo needs a place to practice his singing."

"But can't the Lords of Waterdeep, or the guilds pay for using this place for their meetings?" asked Shadimir. He was slowly becoming angry, and his high opinion of Mirt the Moneylender, a man who he had never met, was dropping slowly, then he thought of a small idea. "What about making this place known to the public.

Theodore Owlrey shrugged and let out a sigh. "Some people do know of this inn," he said with a tone of sadness in his deep voice," but they would rather spend their money on lavish establishments like The House of Purple Silks, or the Inn of the Dripping Dagger."

Guilt started to creep up on the back of Shadimir's neck. "So, say if House Thann, bought The Sanctuary from Mirt, what would that mean exactly?" Shadimir asked, looking at Fox and Theodore.

"It means we would all be out of jobs," Iris responded loudly, walking down the steps. Shadimir saw that she had changed out of her red scale mail and put her leather gloves away, and was now dressed in deep purple colored barmaid's outfit. She slowly walked over to the table, and gave both Theodore and Fox a cold stare. "And shame on you both, for overflowing him with our problems," she yelled, putting her hands on her hips. Seeing the look of trouble on the hunter's face, she softened her voice," We'll find more work. Theodore, your wife works at the House of Purple Silks, and Fox I'm sure they'll let you work back in Blackstaff Tower. I'm sure Khelben has forgotten about the time you set the cockatrice on fire."

Iris began to laugh, which caused all three men to shudder lightly. Though her laugh had brought chills down his spine, Shadimir admired the woman's courage and optimism. He had been traveling Waterdeep for the last three days, blowing his gold on trinkets, expensive robes, and sword pommels, and looking for property to buy. Yet here was this woman, using her own money to put her sons through school and trying to keep this place open for business.

He didn't want Iris to lose the inn, especially to some nobles who would probably just tear it down. What if he had managed to buy this inn from Mirt and was the reason these people had lost their jobs. What if he had bought this place?

"Don't dwell on our problems Shadimir," Iris said softly, taking a seat next to him, and then she looked into his eyes. "So tell us about yourself."

The City of the Dead, a graveyard that was about as big as one of the Waterdeep's wards. Members of Waterdeep's city watch patrolled these grounds, looking out for any walking undead, or any grave robbers. The men on patrol would walk through the grounds, going though every inch to try and spot any trespassers, but it seemed tonight the guards on patrol had forgotten to look at a small tomb located in the middle of the graveyard.

It was a beautiful night, thought the finely dressed vampire Soulviss as he sat up against the cold stone wall outside a small grey tomb. His fine leather shoes lightly sunk into the cool wet grass as he looked up at the night sky.

_Have you found the door yet?"_ screeched a voice from below the vampire. The vampire's cold grey skinned hands lifted the middle of his silk jet black robes, and he bowed his head, looking down at the round black orb at his feet.

"Kiaransalee, my goddess. I have found the tomb, but I have not found the trigger to open the door," the vampire whimpered as he slowly bowed to the orb.

The black orb began to shake violently. _Quit groveling, what if the guards see you like this, they will haul you to the prisons_, the orb shouted back at him. _Now find that trigger Soulviss._

Through the black orb, Kiaransalee watched the vampire slowly rise to his feet. The goddess of undeath and revenge wanted to slap her servant, but she was far away in her home that resided in the Demonweb Pits of the Abyss. Yes, she could use her divine powers to thrash the vampire, but she didn't feel like wasting the energy.

Being a goddess to the drow, Kiaransalee was a reluctant ally of Lolth, but lately the Spider Queen had been acting quite odd. However, the Lady of the Dead had no love, nor any concern for the Spider Queen. She had her own agenda.

Several days ago, the drow clerics of Kiaransalee had uncovered a legend about Myrkul; Lord of Bones and the former god of the dead. It was said when Myrkul attacked Waterdeep during the Time of Troubles, agents of the Lord of Bones had hidden a small force of Myrkul's undead in the City of the Dead, away from prying eyes. If any necromancer powerful enough, or any adventurer stupid enough was to find a small fragment from the Crown of Horns; an artifact of Myrkul, they could use that small piece to raise the army of undead Myrkul and attack the city of Waterdeep.

Luckily for the Lady of the Dead, she had found someone stupid enough to try and bring back the Reaper's army. At first, Kiaransalee wasn't sure why out of all her devoted worshippers, she had a sniveling vampire do this important task for her. She missed the confidence (or rather arrogance) her drow worshippers presented when she gave them a challenge. Maybe it was because Soulviss was expendable. She remembered hearing that the same drow priestesses, who learned of the rumor of Myrkul's army, had found Soulviss, wounded and almost dead in the outskirts of the Underdark, the only thing on his person was his tattered clothes and the small black shard in his hands, that spoke of death and hatred for the goddess Mystra.

Kiaransalee gave her clerics the black orb, to give to Soulviss, and through them directed the vampire to Waterdeep. Though she had not appeared in any physical form to him, the Lady of the Dead helped Soulviss make it past the guards and even continued to keep him hidden safely.

Soulviss scanned the tomb's outer wall. The vampire's search led to a small switch at the bottom of the wall. He lightly pressed the trigger with his left food, and heard what he thought was a door sliding open on the ground next to him.

The open door led to a stone staircase that descended deeper into the ground. The black orb rolled over to Soulviss' feet, eyeing the staircase.

"My goddess, may I ask you something?" Soulviss softly asked the small orb at his feet.

_What is it_ the goddess answered in frustration, expecting an irritating question the vampire was about to ask her. Being a goddess, she was hardly ever wrong.

"What if the Lords of Waterdeep, or the Magister get wind of our...I mean your plan? What if they are on their way at this moment?"

If Soulviss could look into the black orb, he would see Kiaransalee rolling her eyes. Once again, the Lady of the Dead was missing the confidence of her drow clerics. If the goddess had an order, they would follow it without questioning the goddess or her methods. They wouldn't be worried about any lords coming after them. They would descend into the ground and into the tomb with no objection.

But the goddess of undeath had to work with what she had. She couldn't appear into avatar and push the vampire into the tomb, for that would raise the suspicions of the other drow gods (not that they didn't suspect each other of anything and everything already) in the abyss.

The black orb rolled a quick circle around the vampire, then stopped at his feet. _If you just stop your worrying, go on into the tomb, and raise the army of Myrkul, we won't need to worry about any Lords of Waterdeep_. Soulviss nodded his head. _Good, now lets go forth and unleash the army of Myrkul back into Waterdeep._

Deep in the Demonweb Pitts, Kiaransalee smiled as she watched Soulviss descend into the ground.


	3. Lord's Meeting and Mystra's Message

Lord's Meeting & Mystra's Message 

The moment Soulviss had stepped onto the descending stairway that led into the underground tomb, Piegeiron; the Open Lord of Waterdeep waited as he stood in the back room of the Lord's Sanctuary, deep in discussion.

A tall and handsome man, Lord Piegeiron stood tall. His dark purple robes decorated with jewels stitched down the sides of the robe. The Open Lord's grey eyes were completely focused on the matter at hand.

Outside, with his pointed ear up against the wall, Fox growled in frustration. A lot of half elves were known for their sharp sense of hearing, but Fox had trouble trying to hear what the Open Lord of Waterdeep was saying.

"Probably because he's not saying anything," Theodore said, shaking his head as he cleaned one of the ale mugs with a white wash cloth. "I doubt Lord Piegeiron talks to himself, and if he did, it probably be in his palace."

"Don't you want to know what he's here for?" Fox asked the tall bald man, who had just finished cleaning the mug.

"He's here to meet with someone," Iris answered, carrying come dishes in her arms. "It has to do with the City of the Dead."

When Iris left the lobby and entered the small kitchen, she found Shadimir chopping carrots with a small, but finely crafted kitchen knife. Seeing Iris enter the kitchen, he cast a glance in her direction and asked," How do you know its about the City of the Dead?"

"Lord Piegeiron told me when he entered the door. Iris smiled and rubbed the clean shaven cheek of the silver haired young man, then stopped and stared at the kitchen utensil in his hand.

"Is everything all right?" Shadimir asked her.

She began to laugh, (haven gotten used to it a little bit, Shadimir merely flinched at the sound), then looked at him. "For being a man with a lot of money, you sure know your way around the kitchen. Do you cook for yourself at home?"

"When I can," Shadimir answered, then he added with a chuckle," most of the time, Stephanie, or Deidra kick me out of the kitchen. The last time I had to cook was a few nights ago for Alustriel. She had some guests over, and being the 'loyal apprentice' that I am, I decided to help her."

Shadimir paused, then Iris raised an eyebrow, and asked," What happened?"  
"Lets just say, the palace maids are still cleaning the roasted cockatrice off the walls." Shadimir expected Iris to let out laughter, but instead she stood there, and untied the bun out of her hair, letting her long curly brown locks down.

"It sounds like you have an interesting relationship with Alustriel. Spending all that time with her. I wonder what Stephanie thinks about that?"

He paused for a moment, remembering the night he had left for Waterdeep. Stephanie, the woman he had loved for the past year, had become very busy with her duties as a doomguide, a specialty priest for the god Kelemvor. That night, at the Moonbridge in Silverymoon, Shadimir had asked Stephanie to marry him, and though she would have been happy to become his wife, she gracefully declined. She said that being a doomguide caused her to be fully devoted to teaching the teachings of Kelemvor, and that with her being gone a lot, it wasn't fair that he would have to be shackled, to someone who didn't have enough time for him. There were other reasons. Stephanie being twelve years older than he was, (a fact he learned only days before) felt that he should he should explore the world before settling down, despite him already having a daughter.

Shadimir understood, but the pain of Stephanie's refusal still hurt him. More than anything a glabrezu's claws could have ever done to him..

"We understand each other duties, and that me being Lady Alustriel's apprentice takes a lot of time out of my day."

Iris bit her lip, and her brown eyes wandered. "Well, what I meant was...say something happened where you ended up spending the night with another woman."

"Oh," was all Shadimir said as he looked away, thinking how to answer her question. After a moment of uncomfortable silence between the two, Shadimir added with a laugh," I don't think Lady Alustriel would share her bed with someone like me."

Iris smiled and slowly moved up to him. The hunter could feel her soft skin brushing up against him. "I really wasn't thinking of Alustriel when I asked you that," she whispered softly into his ear, her warm breath breezing in his hear, and her hand gently sliding over his. She was within seconds of turning him around and kissing him deeply.

"Meleghost, I didn't know you would be arriving this evening," Theodore called out from the lobby.

Not realizing it, Shadimir and Iris quickly walked hand in hand out of the kitchen and into the lobby. When they both entered, they noticed a new figure standing near the doorway to the back room. Meleghost Starseer; head of the House of Wonder, Waterdeep's church to Mystra, and Magister to the goddess of magic.

The Magister stood tall, wearing jet black robes, and his clean shaved head and well trimmed goatee made him all the intimidating. Meleghost looked around the room, his dark eyes instantly going to Shadimir. He cast a cold stare that caused Iris to release Shadimir's hand. Meleghost then turned to the doorway, seeing Piergeiron standing in the lobby. "Meleghost, I'm glad you could make it," the Open Lord of Waterdeep said in a cool calm voice. "Have you any information on what goes on in the City of the Dead?"

He stared at Lord Piegeiron for a moment. "There seems to be something lurking in the graveyard," Meleghost answered in a cold voice, his fingers gently brushing on a smooth wooden chair. "From what I've gathered, it is a vampire named Soulviss, and he has gone into one of the underground tombs. The Lady of Mysteries has told me that this vampire plans to unleash a slumbering army buried deep into the tomb."

"We should have checked all of the tombs," Lord Piegeiron sighed," I should have listened to all of the rumors."

"I will go and deal with this vampire," Meleghost declared," and I shall need no assistance."

"If this vampire is in the middle of attempting to raise an army of undead, don't you think you might need some help?"

Everyone turned to look at Shadimir, and even the undead hunter was surprised from the words that came from his mouth. Meleghost, who was more insulted than shocked, slowly walked over to Shadimir, and his eyes bore deeply into the hunter's soul. "My memory may be a bit hazy at times, but last I remembered, I was the head of Mystra's church in Waterdeep, not some little apprentice from Silverymoon."

Shadimir's blue eyes stared back into the Magister's. He could feel the powerful aura of magic coming from Meleghost. The hunter was ready to make a crude suggestion to Meleghost, when Iris softly spoke. "He has a vast knowledge of undead, and has been fighting them for most of his life, he could probably help you." She stopped when Meleghost's dark eyes went from Shadimir's to hers.

"Yes, I know of this man's deeds of fighting undead, particularly fighting a dracolich. Yes, Shadimir I am aware of your little encounter of Elisondar. You did defeat the dracolich, a newly created and a weak one at that. However, as I recall, you had help from a Chosen of Mystra, Elisondar's sister, and some whelp of a sidekick.

Meleghost was about to finish by telling Shadimir he wouldn't have survived if he had fought the dracolich alone, but when he referred to the undead hunter's friend as a whelp, Shadimir stepped forward to the Magister and delivered a hard punch to his jaw.

"Don't ever call my friend a whelp," Shadimir growled, thinking about how had placed his deep gnome friend's life in peril so many times.

Meleghost stepped back, and growled softly at Shadimir. He didn't see Piegeiron Theodore and Fox, all with their hands on their weapons they hid on their belts, but the Magister knew when not to start a fight.

"I am going to the City of the Dead," the Magister once again declared, this time with a little more anger in his voice. He then turned to Shadimir, with hatred and anger in his eyes, and added," and I will be going alone."

In a flash of bright light, Meleghost Starseer teleported away from the Lord's Sanctuary.

No less than seven seconds later, in the same flash of bright light, Meleghost appeared in the exact spot where he believed the vampire Soulviss stood when he found the hidden stairs. His slightly swollen jaw throbbed lightly. The Magister pushed away all thoughts of destroying Shadimir and focused on descending down the open stairway before him.

The Magister quickly stepped to the bottom of the stairs. The walls of this hidden entrance were stone just like the stairs. His ears picked up the sound of bones creaking behind him.

Turning right, Meleghost was ready to fire some spells at the approaching skeletons, but he turned a second too late as he saw three large shovels flying towards him. All three of the shovel's cold metallic end impacted hard against the Magister's skull.

Sounds of metal clanging filled the tomb. In the next room, surrounded by skeletons and zombies that had literally popping out of the ground, Soulviss watched as the numbers of zombies and skeletons increased greatly. The undead weren't very strong, but the vampire had a feeling the army outnumbered the forces of Waterdeep.

Soulviss' yellow lifeless eyes watched as three skeletons brought forward the Magister, who was out cold

_See Soulviss, I told you any problems you had would be taken care of_ the voice from within the black orb purred.

The confidence level of Soulviss went up greatly. Of anyone in Waterdeep, he considered Meleghost Starseer the only real threat to his goddess plans. Though he saw Meleghost was out of commission for the moment, the vampire it was only a matter of time before the Magister would awake from his temporary slumber.

"Welcome to your final resting place Meleghost, I hope I get to see your face when the legion of Kiaransalee rips you limb from limb."

As Soulviss motioned the three skeletons to take Meleghost's body back behind the stairs, somewhere in the Demonweb Puts, the goddess Kiaransalee was laughing.

An hour had passed, since Meleghost had teleported out of the Lord's Sanctuary. No one said anything of what transpired between Meleghost and Shadimir.

The undead hunter decided to gather his weapons, his armor, and his cloak from upstairs.

Shadimir went into the first room on his left, opposite of the stairs. He found his belongings folded on a soft bed. "Wow, Iris must have done this," he said, unfolding the green cloak.

"Yes, she took very good care of it," whispered a melodious voice in the air. A familiar voice that Shadimir had encountered many times through his time in the Silver Marshes. The last time he had encountered this voice, it nearly sent him falling out of his window.

"What can I do for you Lady Mystra?" Shadimir asked the open air with a bow.

"Quickly, go to the City of the Dead. A battle is taking place as we speak. Soulviss has done the unthinkable, and now he has unleashed Myrkul's hidden army is now roaming the city of the dead." Mystra's voice was deep with concern. "The forces of Waterdeep are already beginning to suffer casualties."

"Didn't Meleghost stop the vampire?" Shadimir asked. He began to feel guilty that he hadn't gone with Meleghost, despite the Magister's protests.

"Meleghost had arrived just a little too late when he walked down the open stairway. Even Magisters make mistakes," Mystra responded softly. There was a brief pause, then she added," You must go down the open stairway, destroy the fragment that lies in walls in the middle of a rune if you want to destroy all the undead at once...you're his only hope Shadimir."

The undead hunter had already strapped on his armors, and placed his weapons on his belt. He looked up and raised an eyebrow. "Am I really his only hope?" he asked the goddess.

There came a light giggle in the air before Shadimir. "Not really, but I want you to prove to Meleghost that you're more than just some undead slayer."

The hunter let out a laugh, much similar to that of Iris, then rushed down the stairs. When he reached the bottom, he was surprised to find Iris, Fox, and Theodore all dressed down in armor.

"You look like you're ready for a fight," Shadimir commented, looking at all three of them.

"Funny, we were just going to say the same thing," Theodore remarked. The bald man was dressed in steel breastplate armor, and held a great axe with his right hand.

Iris smiled and stepped in front of him. "We were just coming to get you. Lord Piegeiron had given the order for all available Grey Hand Enforcers to head over to the City of the Dead."

"I was just headed there myself, mind if I come along?" Shadimir asked, staring into Iris' brown eyes.

"Not at all," Fox answered in a merry voice. He was dressed in blue breastplate armor and wore a grey tabard over it. At his side, was a slender looking rapier at his belt. The half elf quietly exited through the door, and Theodore followed, leaving Iris and Shadimir alone.

They stared at one another for a minute. The hunter knew he had to run in and save Meleghost and destroy the fragment to stop the undead. However, something inside of him told Shadimir to keep Iris safe from harm. He looked into her eyes, believing she was thinking the same thing, only that it was her duty to keep him safe.

Together, they left the Lord's Sanctuary, arm in arm, but then Iris turned back and quickly locked the door to the inn. Perhaps for the last time.


	4. The Vampire's Mistake & Shadimir's Foe

The Battle of the Graveyard & The Vampire's Mistake 

Only one word could describe what was taking place inside the City of the Dead. Chaos.

The City of the Dead was a vast graveyard that housed the bodies of many who had spent and had given their lives for Waterdeep. Many of the tombs and graves were actually portals linked other dimensions, where the bodies of the dead were laid to rest. Occasionally, the guards would come across some skeletons or zombies walking around the grounds, but in their years of service to the City of Splendors, they had never seen anything like this in years.

Across the grassy fields of Waterdeep's vast graveyard, skeletons and zombies of all sizes were fighting a bloody battle against Waterdeeps City Guard and City Watch. Many of the zombies and skeletons wore black plated armor with white skulls painted on the front. Bones, severed body parts, and blood rained down on the grass.

One side of the field, a giant skeleton was swinging a giant sized club , swatting away guards, watchmen, and zombies away from its path.

On the opposite side of the field, members of the Grey Hand fighting force were having little trouble ripping through the lines of undead. "They don't call us elite for nothing," shouted one member of the Grey Hands, whose halberd sliced through a zombie.

The commander, a man with a stocky muscular build named Jardwhim had just slain a large skeleton when he saw three of his fellow Grey Hand Enforcers and a young man wearing chain armor. For a moment, he watched as the young man with chain armor easily take down three zombies, then moving to a small group of skeletons, attacking them fiercely with his mace and sword.

"We'll never get to the tomb at this rate, there's too many undead blocking our path," he shouted.

Jardwhim looked over and saw Iris coming towards him. "Hey Jardwhim, think you could help us get to an open tomb a little ways away."

"Come on boys, lets plow the road," the leader of the Grey Hands shouted, and quickly he was joined by eight more enforcers, one of them being a frost giant. All together, they charged forward, knocking away any undead who had been in the path. Iris, Shadimir, Theodore, and Fox followed the path of fallen undead left behind by Jardwhim's charge attack.

Shadimir and the others had little trouble getting the rest of the way to the open stairway Mystra had told him about. He and Iris began walking down the stairs, but stopped when they saw Theodore and Fox staying on the surface, fighting the undead.

"Aren't you going to come with us?" Iris asked her fellow enforcers.

Theodore lifted his great axe and brought it down hard, slashing a zombie across the chest. "They need our help up here," he answered loudly. "You two take care of yourselves."

"Besides, we'd be missing all of the fun," Fox added, his voice the same loud volume as Theodore's. The half elf dodged an attack by a nearby skeleton, then looked at Shadimir. "Take good care of her." Fox shouted a loud war cry and jumped at the skeleton who tried to attack him.

Holding Gabriel forward, Shadimir nodded, then he and Iris slowly walked down the stairs together, into the darkness below.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, a loud moan came from behind them. Out of pure instinct, Iris turned around, and shot a jab with her heavily gloved forward, hitting something hard.

After lighting a torch, and placing it on the wall, both Iris and Shadimir were shocked to see Meleghost unconscious on the ground.

"I just hit Lord Meleghost," Iris squeaked as she saw Meleghost's cheek begin to swell.

"Looks like Meleghost is having a rough night," Shadimir remarked quietly, then turned to Iris," but don't worry, he'll probably think I did it." The hunter looked forward, seeing four zombies emerge out of the room ahead. He quickly drew his mace, and sprang forward, driving his mace into the nearest zombie's midsection, then slashed Gabriel upward into the zombie's ribcage.

Iris stepped forward, bringing her great sword down through one of the zombie's shoulder. The zombie crumbled before her, then with quick reflexes, Iris yanked her sword from the zombie she had just killed, and cleaved the zombie next to her in half.

The zombie Shadimir attacked clawed at the hunter's armor, but missed by only a few inches. The one remaining uninjured zombie sprang out at Shadimir.

The hunter evaded the second zombie's attack, spinning around behind both zombies. He once again drove Gabriel forward, into the zombie's side to finish it off, then sent his mace forward, backhanding the one remaining zombie in the shoulder. The disruption ability from Shadimir's mace reduced the zombie to cinders.

"Shadimir, look," Iris said, pointing into the room ahead of them.. With his blue eyes, Shadimir saw a faint glowing lantern that lit up the room. Next to the lantern, stood the dark haired vampire, dressed in black robes, its pale its lifeless yellow eyes staring at them.

Shadimir could feel the vampire trying to dominate their minds. The vampire's eyes turned its eyes and stared at Iris, attempting to crush her willpower with his eyes. Though he easily overcame the vampire's attempt to dominate his will, the hunter was unsure if Iris could stand up to the vampire's dominating power, and even if she could, he wasn't going to take that chance. He had to distract her, and one idea came to Shadimir's mind

Forgive me Stephanie, the hunter said in his mind as he sprang forward, and wrapped his arms around Iris. He pressed his lips hard against hers, kissing her deeply.

Her eyes closed, Iris slowly melted in Shadimir's kiss. She kissed his warm lips back, wrapping her arms tightly around him.

"Very touching but you fools are too late," the vampire stated coldly.

Shadimir slowly broke the kiss away, then turned to the vampire. "I would say you're the fool Soulviss. You're the one who sent all of the undead above to fight, while you remained down here by yourself."

The vampire growled and flew out at Shadimir. The hunter stood still for a second, waiting for the vampire to get closer to him.

Soulviss was ready to fly into the human. He would throw him up against the wall, crush him into the rough stone walls, then drink the blood from his neck. He was ready taste the human's blood, but then he saw the human spin his left arm forward. The vampire tried to slow himself down, but it was too late. The enchanted mace in Shadimir's left hand cracked the vampire's skull on impact.

The vampire dropped to the ground, clutching his head as the holy and undead bane enchantment from the mace shot through his body like an intense blast of lightning shocking his nerves with intense pain. Soulviss knew he wouldn't survive another attack like that from the human. His whole reason for becoming a vampire was for the immortality, but he also didn't want to fail his goddess either.

Using what mental strength he could gather, Soulviss' body quickly formed into a mist. The hunter knew this to be a vampire's gaseous form, something vampires used for quick escapes.

_No, you will not run! _cried a terrible voice inside the vampire's head.

Soulviss' body reappeared a few feet away from Shadimir. "My goddess, I am sorry, I have failed you. Please let me leave, so I can serve you another day," Soulviss pleaded.

_The plan failed because you weren't smart enough to keep more than four guards down here with you. I will deal with you on my own time_.

"You don't understand, I didn't think they would send anyone down here...please..." Soulviss crawled on his hands over to the black orb.

Shadimir and Iris watched the vampire speak to the open air. They couldn't hear anything for it, but he had heard Soulviss call to his goddess to let him leave the tomb. He looked over at the wall, seeing the small black shard imbedded in the wall, surrounded by black marked runes. "Iris, go and remove that shard from the rune," Shadimir said as he walked over to the vampire.

Iris obeyed, and walked in front of the shard, but rather than remove it from the wall, she brought her great sword forward and began batting her blade against the shard, breaking it piece by tiny piece.

Shadimir walked up to Soulviss, who appeared to be hunched over on his side. The hunter began to feel pity for the vampire. He held Gabriel forward, ready to finish the creature off, when the vampire disappeared in front of the Shadimir's eyes. What remained, was the black orb.

The hunter looked at the orb curiously, and began feeling around it softly.

_Who are you?_ said a cold female voice from inside the orb.

Back in the Demonweb Pits, Kiaransalee stared at the silver haired human who was now holding the orb. The silver hair. The blue eyes. Something about this human was familiar to the Lady of the Dead.

Then she remembered Elisondar, the first dracolich created by her clerics. She remembered the dracolich was destroyed almost a month ago. If the reports and messages sent to her by her clerics were true, then his man matched the description of the one responsible for the destruction of Elisondar. Whether he was the one who had destroyed the dracolich or not, he was responsible for ruining her plans to take over Waterdeep with her army of undead. The shard must have been destroyed, because the drow goddess could no longer sense the power of undead coming from the surface of Waterdeep's graveyard.

"Soulviss maybe have been weak, but he could created more undead," Kiaransalee growled, but now her plan had truly failed.

_YOU!_ the voice from inside the orb screamed into Shadimir's mind, causing him to drop the orb. The hunter's head filled with unbearable throbbing pain. He thought his head was going to explode.

Hearing Shadimir's cries of pain, Iris walked over to him. She looked down at the orb, her insides telling her to destroy the cursed object. She brought her greatsword's sharp tip down hard on the orb, shattering it on impact.

When the orb was destroyed, she looked over at the orb, she saw Shadimir lying unconscious on the cold tomb floor.


	5. Celebrations and Dealings

Celebrations and Business Deals 

The moment Iris had shattered the fragment that came from the Crown of Horns, all the undead that were roaming and attacking in the City of the Dead fell lifeless to the ground.

The members of the Grey Hands, Waterdeep's City Watch, and the Waterdeep's City Guard who had survived the battle, gathered their wounded and their dead. When they were finished, and all that remained were piles of bones and scattered body parts. The city officials decided it was best if they cleaned it all up the next day.

Due to some good timing, and some very powerful spell casting from wizards, sorcerers, and bards, no one but those who were present at the battle and lived were the only ones who knew of the onslaught that had taken place a few hours before.

When he had awaken a few hours after going down into the tomb, he found Lord Piergerion waiting for him in the lobby. The Open Lord asked Shadimir if there was anything he could do for him, and Shadimir knew exactly what his answer would be.

Finally, after three long days of waiting, Shadimir had finally gotten his one-on-one meeting with Mirt the Moneylender.

The meeting was scheduled to take place in the back room of the Lord's Sanctuary. Inside the room, was one large square wooden table, with three chairs surrounding each side.

Shadimir had already been sitting in the room when Mirt had entered. He was a large man who wore plain brown robes and had a plump round face. Mirt the Moneylender walked with a hitch in his step, but he quickly was able to make it to the other side of the table, opposite of Shadimir.

"So I hear, ye wanted to make a business deal," Mirt asked Shadimir curiously.

The hunter looked around the empty walls of the Sanctuary. He had been waiting for three days, ready to acquire some property, and then he remembered a thought he had while he was sitting in the lobby the other night.

He knew just what to buy.

That night, Iris walked into the Lord's Sanctuary with a yawn. It was a slow night the enforcer, as she had been put on temporary vacation from the Grey Hands, for her service in the battle at the City of the Dead.

She walked into the lobby, noticing the grim looks on Theodore and Fox's faces. "What's wrong, did someone die or something?" she asked with a laugh.

They didn't make any sudden movements from the woman's atrocious laughter. Instead, Theodore turned to Iris, his arm in a large sling, while Fox, who appeared to have bandages on both of his arms.

"Someone bought the Sanctuary," Theodore said calmly," The deal was make this morning."

Iris' brown eyes flared with anger as she looked at Fox, whose eyes looked down at the slow as he gave a slow nod. "I guess we have a new boss," she said quietly, not wanting to believe what she had just heard.

"I guess so," Fox answered quietly, then looked at Theodore, who looked into the kitchen. "He's in there if you want to meet him."

Iris raised one of her thin brown eyebrows, and slowly walked into the kitchen, ready to strangle whoever had the fortitude to buy the inn without even telling her. She entered the kitchen, and let out a loud gasp, when she saw Shadimir chopping up carrots.

Shadimir, who was wearing a blue linen shirt and leather pants, quickly finished chopping the carrots, and turned to look at Iris.

"You...you bought the Sanctuary?" she asked in a choked voice, with tears forming in her eyes.

"This morning, when I met with Mirt," Shadimir began," It cost me about two thousand gold, and my word that I would tell anyone about the secret meetings that take place here.

Iris was speechless. She stepped up to Shadimir and kissed him deeply, then pulled away. "I'm sorry," she said softly.

"Its all right," he said softly, holding her close to him. He paused for a moment, thinking about how to word his next question he was going to ask her. Taking a breath, he finally asked. "I have to go back to Silverymoon soon, and I'll need someone to look after the Lord's Sanctuary while I'm away. Well, what I'm asking..."

She placed two fingers on his lips, quieting him. "I'll do it," she said softly, the tears in her eyes moving down her cheeks.

"Good. I can have supplies sent here. Food, money, furnishings, whatever you need."

"Thank you Shadimir, for everything," was all Iris said, then she continued to sob against Shadimir's chest.

After what seemed like forever of them holding on to each other, Shadimir kissed the top of Iris forehead. "Come on, let's go celebrate in the lobby. I bet if we asked, we could get Mirt down here to help us celebrate.

Iris wiped the tears from her eyes, then they walked out together into the lobby, arm in arm.

Elsewhere in the dark regions of the Demonweb Pits, the dark elf goddess Kiaransalee sat on a throne of skulls and ribcages. After some comformation from Lolth about what happened to Elisondar, it seemed that this human, whose name she learned was Shadimir, had ruined her plans to bring undeath and chaos into the surface world. Not once, but twice.

"Shadimir," she growled, her hand shattering the golden goblet in her hands, imagining it was the human she was crushing in her powerful grip.

Then she smiled, and thought to herself for a moment. "Maybe, I should turn him into a lich, or a wight and keep him as a pet," she laughed sitting back on her throne. The Lady of the Dead never thought much of humans. She could hear Soulviss screaming many miles away as he was being chased by handmaidens of Lolth.

Yet, the thought of killing Shadimir and brining his spirit down to the abyss, torturing him night and day for all eternity filled the goddess of revenge and undeath with glee and anticipation.

"Soon, your soul will be mine, and you will pay dearly for ruining my plans. Your soul will be mine forever," she whispered, knowing that soon, the human Shadimir would be hearing her sweet posionous words in his nightmares.

For those who take the time out of their days to read the stories I have posted here

And for Halaster Blackcloak,

The next time our paths cross, may it be under more friendly circumstances...


End file.
